


Familiar Magic

by iam93percentstardust



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Anal Sex, Bottom Tony Stark, But not in a creepy way, Familiar Bucky Barnes, Familiar Steve Rogers, Familiars, Handcuffs, M/M, Ritual Sex, Sex Toys, Top Bucky Barnes, Top Steve Rogers, Witch Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:20:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23536693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: Every blue moon, Tony has to get rid of his excess magic. There are many ways to do this but his familiars have an idea that's more fun than the traditional way- as long as he doesn't lose his heart.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 34
Kudos: 515
Collections: WinterIronShield*





	Familiar Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [adoctoraday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/adoctoraday/gifts).



> Many thanks to Stella, without whom I would never have finished this work

Most witches only have one familiar. Some, the ones with hardly any magic at all, don’t even have that one and every century or so there’s a witch powerful enough to need several but most need one.

Tony has power—quite a lot of it, as a matter of fact—and so he has two familiars.

It’s a Carbonell family trait. The Starks had very little magic—Howard hadn’t had enough to call a familiar to him—but the Carbonells regularly produced witches that needed two or three familiars. Maria has two, a wolf and a raven, and one of Tony’s cousins has a wolf, an owl, and a cat so he hadn’t been surprised when a cat calling himself Bucky had shown up one night. He’d been considerably more surprised when the dragon had shown up a few hours later.

Dragons are powerful familiars, meant to help and guide powerful witches. Tony has power, yes, but he’d never once thought that he had enough power to call a dragon to him.

“Well I’m here now,” the dragon had said when he’d first arrived. “So you’d best get used to me.”

Everyone knows you don’t argue with a dragon so, despite his misgivings, Tony had let the dragon—oddly named Steve and seriously, what is up with the names of his familiars—stay.

Familiars have many purposes from providing useful ingredients for spells to being foci for their witch’s magic to simply being companions. Tony uses his for all the regular purposes but they also serve as a way to siphon off the excess magic he produces and could, quite literally, level the whole town if he didn’t get rid of it. Every blue moon, he lets Steve and Bucky take in as much of his power as they can until he’s left with as much magic as the common hedgewitch, which works because Tony rarely uses his magic anyway. Let his cousins fight over who will become the family witch. He’s perfectly happy puttering around his apothecary.

Bucky jumps up onto the counter and stretches out into a sunbeam, before rolling over so his belly is up. Tony glances at it, temptation to rub that belly strong as ever, but he knows better by now. Bucky might look inviting but he’ll bite as soon as Tony’s hand even twitches in that direction.

 _Blue moon tonight_ , Bucky says, voice speaking as loud into Tony’s mind as if he’d said the words aloud. Supposedly, being able to hear your familiar in your mind is the mark of a strong bond between witch and familiar. Tony thinks that’s bullshit though because his bond with Steve is just as strong as the one with Bucky but he’s never once heard Steve in his mind.

“That it is,” he agrees and holds up a sprig of ash wood for Steve, curled around his neck, to burn.

_I didn’t see you lay out the groundwork for the rituals. Does that mean we’re taking your magic the usual way then?_

There are many ways of siphoning magic from a witch to their familiar. The most traditional is a blood ritual that Tony hates because he can’t stand the sight of blood. For his first few months with Steve and Bucky, he had used a nontraditional ritual that involved hickory wood and amethysts, far more complicated than the blood ritual but easier on his health. Once he’d fully gained his familiars’ trust however, he’d started using a different ritual, one that uses the oldest kind of magic there is and is a lot more fun—for all three of them. It’s time-consuming though and he had originally been planning to use one of the other rituals this time as he couldn’t devote all night to his familiars when he had a date later that evening.

“That would be correct, Buckaroo. Ty backed out on me,” he says, burying his disappointment down. He’d really liked Ty. The guy had seemed nice and he hadn’t minded that Tony ran a magical apothecary, which always seemed to throw people off when they realized he’s a Carbonell. He had been looking forward to their date but then Ty had texted—not even called—to tell him that he was sorry but he needed to cancel. Tony had offered to reschedule but Ty hadn’t answered. He supposes that’s just as much of an answer in its own way.

 _Sorry to hear that_.

Tony eyes the cat currently licking his butt. Bucky doesn’t look sorry, which could just be the natural state of being a cat but somehow, he doesn’t think so this time.

“You know,” he says, “one day, you two are going to have to get over me going out without you.”

Bucky pauses in his grooming to fix a baleful glare on him. _No we don’t._

Steve nuzzles under his ear and Tony reaches up to rub his scales, making the little dragon rumble.

He sighs. “I really liked Ty and if you’re not—” He stops. It simply isn’t done, familiars claiming their witches. Familiars can claim other familiars but not their witches. They’re supposed to be helpers and while it’s acceptable to use them to siphon off excess magic, anything further is unheard of. And anyway, just because _Tony_ has feelings for his two familiars doesn’t mean they have feelings for him.

“Anyway,” he says, shaking his head and returning to his work, “you can’t keep scaring off my dates.”

_Hmm._

“One day, I’m going to meet a nice person and I’m going to want to settle down with them and you’re going to need to accept that.” One day. It hadn’t happened yet; he seemed to have a thing for attracting assholes. But. One day.

 _Hmm_. A moment later, the fluffy grey cat is replaced by a very handsome, very _naked_ man lounging on Tony’s counter.

“Absolutely not,” Tony insists and shoves Bucky off the counter, trying very hard to avoid looking at any of Bucky’s…assets. “Shop’s still open so you either need clothes or you need to go back upstairs.”

“You used to be fun,” Bucky sulks as clothes appear on his body.

“I’m still fun,” Tony retorts. “I let you run around naked all the time. But right now, I could have customers and I don’t feel like traumatizing them.” He checks the time. Only a few more minutes to closing, thank goodness. His magic has been buzzing under his skin for a couple weeks now, demanding to have an outlet.

He feels Steve uncoil from around his neck and then Steve’s standing there as well, fully clothed fortunately. “Want us to set things up while you close shop?” he asks, bussing a quick kiss onto Tony’s cheek.

Tony only just barely manages to stop himself from touching where Steve’s kiss had burned. Steve has never done something like that before and he can’t help but read a little into it. It doesn’t mean anything, he sternly tells himself. But his heart is less convinced.

“That would be great,” he says absently, still thinking about that kiss. He flicks his wand at the front door as the two familiars leave. The sign on the door flips to closed and the lock turns with a crisp click. He goes through the familiar nightly routine of cleaning and checking the stock, a routine that’s so ingrained in him after these long years that he could easily do it in his sleep, which is nice for when he’s distracted like this.

He trails upstairs once he’s finished, half-dragging his feet. He knows that his two familiars don’t want him the way he wants them. What could they possibly want with a witch who’s wasting his power, as his family so often reminds him? He’s tried on the last couple blue moons to switch rituals, trying to protect his heart from getting hurt further, but each time either Steve or Bucky have insisted on their usual way. He’d really thought that he had it resolved this time, what with Ty and the date and everything but then Ty had backed out. He doesn’t really have a reason to suspect Bucky of sabotaging his date but something feels right about the accusation.

He just can’t figure out why Bucky would want to sabotage it in the first place.

Tony lives right above the shop in an apartment that’s magically enlarged to fit inside the small space. He unlocks the door and steps inside, surprised to see a path of red rose petals leading from the door to his bedroom.

“What are you two up to?” he calls, not that either familiar answers.

He follows the path, utterly bewildered. Surely Steve and Bucky know that he’s a sure thing. There’s no need to romance him.

“What are you doing?” he asks as he walks into the bedroom. The room is decorated with candles and more rose petals though unlike the petals outside, the ones in here are arranged in the shape of the sigils he needs for the power exchange. He can’t be too upset as he figures it’ll be easier during cleanup than the paint he usually uses but he is _very_ confused.

“Clearly,” Bucky says from where he’s lounging naked on the bed, “somethin’ got mixed up.”

“Obviously,” Steve says drily as he leaves the attached bathroom. There’s a towel wrapped around his waist but other than that, he’s as nude as Bucky is. “Or else our Tony would’ve known we’ve been trying to claim him for three years.”

Tony asks, “You have?”

It’s not that he doesn’t believe them. It’s just that…well, he doesn’t believe them. Steve and Bucky have each other. That much has been obvious from the moment Steve followed Bucky through his front door. And—and Tony leaving behind his inheritance to own a shop is already weird enough. Entering a relationship with his familiars is just plain asking for trouble and—and he would _never_ , in a million years, imagine that they would want _him_.

Steve’s face falls and he crosses the room in three long strides so that he’s standing in front of Tony. “Sweetheart, no,” he says dismayed as he pulls the witch into his arms. “You didn’t know?”

“How could I have known?” Tony says. “You never said anything.”

“I didn’t think we had to,” Bucky replies as he sits up and crawls to the end of the bed. “Come here, baby doll.”

Steve settles him onto Bucky’s lap where he’s kissed long and thorough.

“We’re sorry,” Steve murmurs in his ear, laying teasing little kisses along the nape of his neck. “We thought you knew. We thought that was why you switched the rituals and when you found out we were cancelling your dates…” He trails off as Tony moans. It _had_ been on purpose. He’s known it had to be. There were too many cancelled dates for it to be an accident. But to know _why_ , to know that they want him as much as he wants them.

“Have you seen you two?” he asks as Bucky moves down his throat to the collar of his shirt. One of his hands goes back to twist in Steve’s hair. “Why wouldn’t I want to let you fuck me? But—but you didn’t ask any other time.”

“Neither did you,” Bucky points out. “And I s’pose we thought maybe you were ashamed of us. You’ve said it before, our kind of relationship isn’t exactly a normal one.”

He’s right but he’s also wrong. Witches giving up their magic through sex has been around since familiars first discovered they could shift to human forms. The practice has died out over the centuries as familiars became closer to pets than companions but there are still plenty of witches and familiars who participate in power exchanges like Tony’s. It’s the _rest_ of it that has him worried—the relationship aspect to it. That isn’t nearly as common. But Tony isn’t ashamed of what he wants. He’d been worried that Steve and Bucky would be ashamed of _him._

“I’m not ashamed,” he says firmly, whining a little when Bucky leans away from him to look into his eyes. He lets him look though, knowing that he’s a terrible liar and that Bucky will see the truth in his face. “I’m not. Scared, a little, maybe.”

Bucky smiles crookedly and leans back in to kiss him. “Good thing Stevie and I are so powerful then, isn’t it?”

“We’ll take care of you, sweetheart,” Steve promises. “You just gotta let us.”

And Tony—Tony’s still a little scared. Scared that he won’t get to keep this, that his familiars will decide he’s not worth it. But—but being taken care of sounds _really nice_. He tilts his head back onto Steve’s shoulder.

“Please,” he whispers. “I just want you.”

They’re moving. Bucky is leaning back, crawling towards the pillows at the head of the bed. Steve is tipping him over so that he’s balanced above Bucky as the cat croons in his ear about how pretty he looks, how good he’s being.

Every blue moon, Tony has to give up his power. There are many ways to do this: blood rituals, using balancing woods and gems. Tony though prefers the oldest kind of magic there is: sex magic. There’s an ancient legend that tells of a witch giving up their magic to their powerful familiar, prostrating themselves before their companion in a reverse of their usual power exchange.

Tony had never considered it until he’d seen his familiars in their human forms, until he’d gotten to know them, until he’d told himself that he would take them in any way they would let him…until he’d fallen in love. That first night, he had been apprehensive, unsure that he would want to do this again or if it would hurt too much. But he’d lain there at the end of the night, fucked out and sated, magic a small glimmer in the back of his mind instead of the raging inferno it had been before. Steve and Bucky had been curled around him, still in their human forms, and he had known then: if that was all they could give him, then he would take it.

He’d never thought to ask for anything more. He’d never even thought he could.

And now Bucky is pinching cruelly at his nipples, just the smallest hint of claws to make him jump and Steve is kissing his way down his back and they’re both telling him how incredible he is, how much they love him, and it’s almost too much for him. He sobs, burying his face in the crook of Bucky’s neck so they don’t see the tears in his eyes.

He can feel them hesitate and part of him wants to ask them to be gentle with him tonight but his magic is a live wire beneath his skin and he _needs_ it. He’s desperate with wanting. He can feel the power rising within him, threatening to consume him, and he wants gentle. But he _needs_ it hard, needs it rough, needs to be pinned down and made to _take_ it.

Tony raises his head to look at Bucky and he knows that Bucky can see it, what he needs, because he looks past him to Steve and says, “We need to ground him.”

Steve still hesitates but Tony sobs again, a needy, pathetic sound. Bucky nods slowly. “Got all the time in the world to go slow, Stevie boy. Gotta ground him to the here and now,” he says.

Steve moves away from his back, the heat of his fire taken away and leaving Tony cold. He mewls and Bucky raises up on his elbow so he can pull Tony down into a searing kiss that leaves him almost as hot as Steve had, tongue curling around his teeth and forcing him to respond before he’s overwhelmed. Bucky kisses him and kisses him and kisses him and it could have been seconds before he hears the dull thud of wood chains in Steve’s hands but it could have just as easily been hours for all he knows.

“Hold him for me, Buck,” Steve says, voice low and commanding in the way that only a dragon can sound. Tony shivers. “Keep him open.”

Bucky pulls Tony down with him as he lays back, laying him down against the length of his body. Bucky isn’t like the average cat. He isn’t sleek and svelte. He’s a Maine coon, big and solidly built and that difference is easy to tell when Tony can feel his muscles beneath his hands. But the way he rolls his hips up into the vee of Tony’s legs—that’s as catlike and sinful as it gets. Bucky’s hands glide down his back, pausing on his hips to urge him to grind down against him before continuing down to grab a cheek in each hand and pull.

Tony gasps as his little hole is exposed to the cold air, clenching and unclenching rhythmically. Steve chuckles darkly. “You should see him,” he tells Bucky. “He must’ve opened himself up earlier. He’s already wet.”

He runs a single finger around the rim of Tony’s hole, spreading the lube that Tony had used during his afternoon break in anticipation of this. Tony cries out, clenching down in a futile attempt to drag Steve’s finger inside.

“Yeah?” Bucky asks and one of his hands shifts so that he can feel around Steve’s finger. “Shit, baby doll, did you open yourself up for us?”

Tony nods against his chest, breathing out, “Wanted to be good.”

“Oh _sweetheart_ ,” Steve moans and when he pushes back in, it’s with another finger, probing Tony’s sensitive walls, skittering past his prostate but paying it no attention as he opens him up for whatever Steve has in mind. Practiced muscles, relaxed from their earlier stretching, open easily. Steve’s fingers are rough, a little dry as he struggles to hold onto this form, sometimes toying with his rim, petting him lightly, sometimes driving in deep and scissoring apart to stretch him open more. Tony lays there and takes it with nothing more than a few weak mewls. He’s good, he’s _good_ and he wants his boys to see that, see _him_.

Steve pulls his fingers out and pushes something else in instead, something cold and unyielding. “Sapphire for calm,” he whispers as he pushes the plug deeper. The plug is etched with amplifying runes, etchings that he can feel glide past his walls, lighting him up in interesting ways. He squirms and cries out, back arching as he aches for something better than a plug, but the runes take hold of his mind and when Bucky pulls him back down, he goes, relaxing into his strong chest.

Bucky presses on his lower back, making the plug shift. Tony sighs, arching again into the grounding touch. He hears Steve moving around the bed and then something picks up his right wrist. He feels one of the heavy wooden cuffs close around his wrist, weighing him down.

“Elm for strength,” Steve says and pulls on the chain so that Tony’s arm is stretched taut across the bed. He links the chain around the bedpost and then moves to Tony’s other side to repeat the process on his left arm. Tony feels the tingle of unfamiliar magic at the corner of his mind. He breathes through the heady rush, feeling Bucky doing the same thing beneath him like he’s coaching him through it. “Birch for new beginnings.”

Steve moves down to his left ankle and binds it as well. “Maple for balance.” And then lastly, his right ankle. “Oak for power.”

The magic from the four woods snap into place, binding him, holding him down. Tony trembles under the onslaught. He needs the chains to keep him grounded during the ritual but it’s such a rush of power that it threatens to overwhelm him.

“You’re doing so good,” Bucky murmurs, stroking a hand over his trembling side like he’s a startled horse. Tony, stretched out atop him, can’t do more than whimper. “I wish you could see yourself, sweet thing. You’re beautiful.”

“Next time,” Steve growls. His fingers are toying with the base of the plug, pulling it out no more than an inch before pushing it back in and it’s not enough, it’s never enough. Tony wants _more_. “Next time we’ll put you in front of a mirror, fuck you open while you watch what we do to you. How would you like that?”

“Yes yes yes, _please_ ,” Tony gasps. He can’t wiggle his hips, can’t thrust back onto the plug like he wants, but he can beg—and the thought that _next time_ is sooner than the next full moon has him weak and wanting. “ _Steve!_ ”

Steve gets his fingers around the plug, pulling it out slowly. He doesn’t stop this time and Tony keens as he’s left empty and desperate. Almost immediately, Bucky’s fingers are pushing into the empty space where the plug had been. His fingers are cooler than the dragon’s, his nails sharper. The spark of pain as Bucky’s nails scrape against his oversensitive rim has him throwing his head back with a loud wail.

“Tell me if it hurts,” Bucky pleads. Sometimes, when there’s been a longer amount of time between blue moons than usual, it does hurt because Bucky and Steve take him as rough as he needs—often rougher than either familiar would like—leaving him wet and used hard. But it doesn’t hurt right now. It feels just right. It’s on the verge of too much but it hasn’t tipped over that line yet and so Tony shakes his head.

“Perfect,” he says. He wishes he could do something to reassure Bucky that this is exactly what he needs but he can’t with the way he’s bound. Bucky seems to understand though because he leans up and kisses him, hard and wet and messy until Tony is panting into his mouth, rolling his hips back onto his fingers.

When Bucky tears his mouth away, he looks right past him at Steve. “You ready for him?”

Tony can’t see Steve’s nod but he can feel it when Bucky pulls his fingers away. He bites his lip against another wail threatening to escape. It’s silly to feel disappointed when he knows that there’s something better coming, something thicker and longer that’ll touch everything inside him that’s dying to be touched.

Bucky’s hands are back on his cheeks, pulling them apart as Steve positions himself at Tony’s hole. He can feel his magic bubbling up inside him, reaching out to his familiars when Steve starts to slide in. Bucky’s fingers dip low, tracing where he and Steve are connected as Steve slides deeper. It’s an incredible feeling and just the suggestion of _more_ , of just the thought of one day taking both Steve and Bucky, has Tony keening, a long, low sound that doesn’t end until Steve’s hips are flush against his ass.

“How does our baby doll look, Stevie?” Bucky asks, sounding unfairly unaffected when Tony already feels this wrecked.

When Steve replies, “Fucking gorgeous,” he at least sounds a little out of breath, which makes Tony feel a bit better. Damn right he’s gorgeous. Getting to fuck him is a _treat_ and his boys had best remember that.

Steve pulls out just a little and then _shoves_ in, forceful enough that Tony would have been shoved up the bed if he hadn’t been bound in place. He does it again and again and _again_ and Tony can feel it all the way in his throat like he might choke on it if Steve’s just a little less careful and if Bucky isn’t kissing him so hard.

His magic is singing, calling out to the dragon behind him and the cat below. And Steve answers, slowing his thrusts until he’s grinding in more than pushing, circling his hips in a way that pushes his cock against Tony’s prostate and lights him up. He starts to chant in a low, guttural language that Tony recognizes as draconic but is incapable of speaking as a human. His magic is swelling up, seeping through the very pores of his skin as it leaves him, the feeling of _too much_ that’s been plaguing him for weeks abating as Steve takes in his power. Steve continues to chant while he picks up the pace, speeding up until he’s slamming into Tony’s body, jolting the witch with every thrust. Tony nearly bites through his lip with the effort it takes to remain silent so he doesn’t disrupt the ritual because it feels so fucking _good_ and he gets to have this again and as often as he wants.

He feels it when Steve comes, hips rabbiting as he fucks wildly into Tony’s hole before stilling. His chant rises into one final roar that rattles the walls. There’s a rush of magic that leaves the air tingling and his entire body oversensitive. Steve comes and comes, cock jumping and pumping more into his hole every time Tony so much as shivers. He thinks it might be leaking out around Steve’s cock, which will certainly make Bucky happy when it’s his turn. He loves seeing Tony wrecked and spilling Steve’s cum.

Bucky is petting his side again, soothing him as he heaves for air. “Doing so good, baby doll,” he tells him. His fingers are pushing in beside Steve’s cock. Tony, overstimulated and trembling, whines. He feels wrecked, worn out, and when he reaches for his magic, it isn’t there. He can sense it though, swirling beneath Steve’s skin, waiting for the moment when he needs it back.

Steve pulls out of him as Bucky is slipping out from underneath him. For a moment, Tony is left bereft and wanting. “Wait,” he manages to weakly say and then Bucky is pressing up against his back.

“Still right here,” he says. “Haven’t gone anywhere.” To Steve, he says, “Get him up on his knees.”

Tony doesn’t know if he’ll be able to stay kneeling like that while Bucky fucks him but Steve is already loosening the chains. He’s helped first up to his knees. Then Bucky slides his hand up Tony’s chest to loosely encircle his neck as he pulls him up so that his chest is pressed to Tony’s back.

He slides easily onto Bucky’s cock, head falling back onto his shoulder as he pants. Bucky’s pace is easier than Steve’s, more languid like the cat he is, but his thrusts are still deep and hard, punching the breath out of Tony with every thrust. Steve is in front of them, watching Tony get fucked as he tugs lazily at his cock, still shiny with lube and cum. His eyes are a brighter shade of blue, hair more golden than usual, and Tony just knows that it’s because of the magic he gave up.

“Fucked is a good look on you, sweetheart,” Steve comments idly. Tony groans as his eyes roll back in his head. This—this is too much. Other than the chants, their coupling has always been silent but now that there’s the promise of more, it’s like the two familiars are saying everything they’ve ever thought about him. He wants to repay the favor, wants to tell them how he’s longed for them since the moment he met them, but he can barely breathe, let alone _talk_.

Bucky is chanting now as well. When Tony had first heard about the language of cats, he’d thought for certain it would be like the yowls and meows he hears from ordinary cats but it’s actually more like purring, a low rumble that radiates through Bucky’s chest. His cock vibrates and Tony has to bite back a scream.

Steve is there suddenly, kissing him to keep him silent during this crucial moment. Tony can barely kiss him back. He pants into Steve’s mouth but the dragon doesn’t seem to mind the lack of response. His hand trails down Tony’s chest, tweaks his nipples, and skates across his stomach until it wraps around his cock, pulling him off in time with Bucky’s thrusts. Tony has to fight to keep from making any sound—even a whimper—that might distract Bucky from the ritual.

When Bucky comes, when the last of the magic leaves Tony’s body, it’s not with a shout like how it had been with Steve. It comes as a wave, washing over him, eroding away his power like the tide on the sand. Tony nearly sobs with relief as Steve pulls his mouth away, leaving him free to cry out as Bucky’s hand joins Steve’s on his cock. Bucky pulls him down further onto his cock, spurting one last time in his body, and Tony comes, spilling white across their hands. Bucky’s mouth comes down on his as Tony screams his pleasure, whiting out while his familiars stroke him through his orgasm.

He comes back to the novel sensation of someone wrapped around his back. There’s a low purring sound that he slowly realizes is coming from Bucky nestled up behind him.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Steve says quietly. He’s sitting against the headboard, cleaning the cuffs and chains. “How’s your magic?”

Tony can still feel it humming within him but it’s because he’s still oversensitive, not because he’s overfull. “Good,” he says honestly. He shifts and feels the plug inside him again. “What’s this for?”

Steve smirks. “I’d say I’m sorry but that’s a lie. We wanted to keep you full of us.”

He likes that a lot and judging by the way Steve’s grin grows, the dragon knows it too. “I like that blush on you,” Steve says, reaching over with a finger to trace across Tony’s cheek.

Tony’s blush deepens. To change the subject, he asks, “Is Bucky asleep?”

Steve nods. “Cats, you know?”

He does know. It’s been a problem before when Bucky’s fallen asleep on the potion ingredients he needs.

“Out with it,” Steve says, looking down at the chains in his hands. “I’m sure you want to know.”

Tony could play coy and ask Steve what he means but he figures he knows. “Did you mean it?” he asks softly.

“That we want you forever and always?” Steve replies. “Yeah, we meant it. We’ve always meant it. You just…didn’t hear us.”

“Oh.” His mouth twists a little as he thinks about that.

“Is that okay?”

In answer, Tony makes grabby hands at him. “Come cuddle with me,” he demands.

“The wood—”

“I’ll make more,” Tony says dismissively. “You’re my familiar. You’re supposed to be helping me in any way I demand and right now, I demand cuddles.”

Steve laughs and puts the chains on the bedside table. He lays down next to Tony, pressing up against his front. This—this is nice, having his familiars bracketing him. They’ve done this before but it had always been as cat and dragon, never as humans.

“I could get used to this,” he mumbles sleepily.

He feels Steve brush an achingly gentle kiss against his forehead. “Yeah, me too.”


End file.
